The Host Club welcomes you!
by ZombieChick67
Summary: In which Tamaki gets a visit from an old friend who takes a shine to somebody no-one would have guessed - Mori!
1. The Host Club welcomes you!

lol i'm back

* * *

"The Ouran Highschool Host Club welcomes you!"

"Tamaki, what's the theme for today?" a female student asked, love hearts almost floating in her eyes.

"Well my Princesses, we thought that since we are not worthy to be blessed with the presence of your loveliness, we would dress as commoners," Tamaki demurred, taking the star-struck girl's hand in his and holding her close. "Our wonderful friend Haruhi, who is actually a commoner, helped us pick out plain clothes, so that we may be a humble backdrop in which your astounding beauty can shine; shine like a Sun that may warm and nourish my soul forevermore."

"He's laying it on thick today, isn't he?" Haruhi commented to Kyouya, watching the student swoon and her friend squeal. He smiled and said nothing in response to her dry tone. Kyouya and the rest of the Host Club never really found out for sure what had happened between Haruhi and Tamaki on the day where she stopped him from going to the airport, but one thing was for certain – the two were inseparable outside of Host Club hours.

"Haru-chan, you know that Tama-chan actually wishes that he can say those things to you and not them, right?" Honey-chan whispered, sidling up to her side and watching the scene before them as well.

Haruhi defrosted a little and smiled down at him a little. "I know Honey-senpai. I'm just being jealous."

"We always did say that Tamaki was a little too popular with the ladies," said the combined voices of the Hitachiin twins as they appeared out of nowhere, wearing matching outfits of skinny jeans and colourful band T-shirts. They snaked their way onto either side of her and draped casual arms over her small shoulders. "But we suppose that it's different now, isn't it?"

"Oh stop bothering Haruhi, you two," Kyouya said calmly. His cool eyes were trained on his clipboard, the light catching his glasses and making them appear opaque. "Nothing's different at all, apart from our small profit increasing ever so slightly. I think that it has something to do with the increased amount of you two looking at one another, and the tension of a slightly adult nature that sparks between you whenever you sit in close proximity to one another. I believe it is called -" Kyouya smiled and pushed his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose with one long index finger before saying the last word "- moe."

Haruhi turned beet red and yelled, "There is no adult tension between Tamaki and me!" while the twins laughed and Kyouya kept a small grin on his face. Honey zipped back to his seat where he had three clients waiting for him.

"Honey-chan, where is Mori-senpai?" one of them asked as her two companions took turns feeding the small senior forkfuls of cake.

"Takashi is at a Kendo Club meet, but he'll be back real soon," Honey smiled up at her through a mouth forkful of vanilla cake. Haruhi thought it was gross, but the girls ignored it and cuddled him some more.

"Ah, goodbye my beauties! Promise me that you'll come back and visit me soon so that I won't have to spend my lonely days pining for your radiant beauty. Please?"

"Oh, we promise Tamaki-chan!" the two girls giggled, blushing as they waved goodbye. Tamaki sat back in the sofa and sighed. He ran a hand casually through his mop of blonde hair, making it flop back attractively on his forehead, or so Haruhi thought. Glancing left and right sneakily, looking out for any clients she may have missed, or the twins trying to rope her into one of their sick little games, or Kyouya trying to get her to run some errand or something, Haruhi crept away to Tamaki's side and sat there in silence.

"Ah, my little rose," he greeted her, smiling warmly, "Have you decided to come and join me?"

"Hai, senpai. You looked sort of alone over here with no mob of girls trying to score some on-on-one time with you," Haruhi said, the reply coming out a little more bitter than she had intended it to. She regretted it at once, and for perfectly good reason.

At once Tamaki was on her, holding her in an embrace so tight that she couldn't breathe. She tried to get away, but it was no use.

"Oh my dear daughter, I'm so sorry for making you feel so unloved!" Tamaki cried dramatically, using the old nickname from the days where he had called himself her daddy. "It was never my intention to make you feel as though you were not the most important person to me in the whole wide world! Just the thought of you all alone in your room at night, wishing that you could get my attention for even a single moment just breaks Daddy's heart! I will make sure that you never, ever feel that way again, Haru-chan! I swear it on Hikaru's life!"

"Hey! When did I get dragged into this nonsense?!" Hikaru called over angrily. "I'm not part of your little lover's tiff!"

Tamaki's face began to fill up with red rage like a kettle getting close to boiling point while Haruhi tried to sink into the couch. But before Tamaki could explode with anger, a deep voice interrupted them.

"Tamaki." Haruhi looked around. It was Mori-senpai, returning from his Kendo Club meet. "Someone's here for you."

Peering past Mori-senpai's sizeable frame, a young Ouran girl blinked at them and smiled nervously. "T-Thank you, Mori-senpai," she stammered, obviously intimidated by the tall, silent man. He nodded at her then went to take his usual spot with Honey.

"Welcome to the Ouran Highschool Host Club! First time here, ma'am?" Tamaki said, all charm and politeness at the prospect of a new client.

"No – Well yes, to be honest, but I'm not here for the Host Club," the girl said. "I'm just here to let you know that there's a girl; looking for you. I don't think she can speak much Japanese, but she kept saying your name over and over again. She sounded French to me."

Tamaki's face went blank for a second as surprise threatened to overwhelm him, but it was soon replaced with a very controlled mask of seriousness. "Thank you," he said formally, bowing low to her. She nodded and scurried out of the doors like a rabbit.

"Tamaki?" Haruhi asked, confused "Is there something wrong?"

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Grinning at her over his shoulder, he left with a casual, "Of course not," and walked out of the doors, closing them quietly behind him.

If any of the clients noticed anything strange, they didn't say anything, but when Kyouya met her quizzical stare with a blank face that was laced with confusion, Haruhi knew that something was off: Kyouya made it his business to know whatever he could find out about their schedules and people of interest, so if he had no idea what was going on, then something odd was afoot.


	2. First impressions

The rest of the day passed without event, Tamaki's clients being redirected to other Hosts after being fed the excuse that Tamaki had taken ill very suddenly. The girls pouted for a time before allowing themselves to be placated with offers of free Host calendars and extra-special treatment courtesy of the remaining Hosts for the rest of the day.

"Kyouya-senpai, where did Tama-chan go?" Honey asked at the end of the day. His voice was literally higher than normal due to his perch from the top of Mori's shoulders. All the remaining members of the Host Club gathered close to hear his answer.

Ignoring their stares, Kyouya pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose again with his finger and said coolly, "I do not know." It was clear from his voice that this was not a phrase he employed often, and it irritated him that he had to use it now.

Then, almost as if he had been listening in on them, the door swung open with a small click and Tamaki walked in. The twins and Honey at once flew to him, crying out, "Boss! We were so worried about you! Where have you been?!"

Haruhi almost wanted to smile: they sounded like a couple of concerned parents.

Tamaki stayed silent for a time, carefully making his way to a chair and sitting down. Haruhi's laughing mood evaporated quickly, and fear crept into its place.

"I… caught up with an old… friend?" He said eventually, his voice going up at the end, as though he wasn't quite sure if they were a friend or not. Forestalling the questions that he knew that they were busting with, Tamaki went on in a calm voice. "We used to know one another when I lived in France. She was a dear friend with… She was a dear friend. Her name is Jeanette, Jeanette Duboir," as Tamaki said her name, he automatically thickened his faint French accent, but then went back to his normal manner of speaking "and she's, uh, come to stay for a while."

'He's lying,' Haruhi realised, shocked. 'Well, perhaps not lying, per say, but he's sure not telling us the whole truth about this girl. Why would he lie to us, his friends?'

"Ahh, where is she?" Hikaru asked, an evil glint in his eyes. "I would like to meet a French girl."

"Especially," added Kaouru, the glint in his eye mirroring the one in his brothers' "one who means so much to you, Boss."

"An ex-lover?" suggested Hikaru, striking a dramatic pose against Mori (who stood there impassively). "Or perhaps -"

"A bitter enemy?" Kaouru finished for his brother, pretending to bitterly stab Haruhi.

Tamaki rubbed his brow, obviously not in the mood for the antics of the twins. "She's in the corridor waiting for me. She doesn't speak a lick of Japanese, so don't even bother trying to talk to her, okay?" With that rather blunt warning, he got up out of the chair, looking almost as weary as an old man, and went to fetch Jeanette.

He had left a stunned silence in his wake, and the remaining Host Club members looked at each other mutely. This was certainly not the cheerful Tamaki they were used to dealing with; not the captivating young man who had brought them all together as a family.

Moments passed sluggishly, as though time itself were burdened with the weight of the silence pressing down on them, and the blonde boy returned with another blonde in tow.

'Wow,' Haruhi thought as the two French people drew closer before finally stoping a few meters away from the stunned group. 'She's… really good-looking.'

It was true, of course: The girl wore a dark grey pleated skirt that fell just shy of her knees, and tall white socks that stood in stark contrast to her black shoes. She wore a navy school jumper of sorts with a scarlet griffin prancing above a motto that was in French as the emblem. Underneath her jumper was a long-sleeved white shirt with the cuffs peeping out from the sleeves, and a crisp collar that protruded out from the neckline.

Jeanette had light blonde hair that was held in a low ponytail, and was cast gracefully over her shoulder so that its slight curl showed clearly. Her delicate face was graced with a long side fringe and big, Western blue eyes, a button nose and large, plump, red, kissable lips that were currently just sitting above her chin and below her nose, not doing anything. Her hands were clasped in front of her and she stood with her feet together.

"With looks like that, she could be Tamaki's twin!" Kaouru whispered to his brother, who nodded in agreement.

"Wow! Jeanette's really pretty, isn't she Haru-chan?" Honey gushed brightly, smiling up at the French beauty cutely. A small corner of her perfect mouth went up, and then broke out into a warm smile, which damn near blew everyone off of their feet.

"Uh yeah," Haruhi managed to force out, after she had recovered "She's really, really pretty. How do you two know each other, senpai?"

Tamaki paused for a beat too long, as though he was thinking quickly.

'He's going to lie to us again!' Haruhi realised angrily. She clenched her hands into fists at her side. 'That rich bastard! He just brings in this French supermodel to show off, and now he's going to lie to his friends! How dare he?! What a jerk!'

"We met while our families were on holiday at Nice. We hit it off and decided to keep in touch," Tamaki said quietly, looking at a spot on the floor. "Jeanette had the chance to study abroad this year, and she decided to come here to Ouran." At this point in his story, Tamaki looked up at them and smiled. "Lucky, ne? Now we can show her around the school and the Host Club and everything."

Not allowing his friends the opportunity to say a single word, he turned to Jeanette and began jabbering away in rapid French. While Haruhi couldn't follow what he was saying exactly, she recognised their names and as he began pointing them out individually, and guessed that he was making introductions.

She smiled at them all again, said a word that they all could understand: "Bonjour!" and waved. She said more in French, which Tamaki took the liberty of translating for them.

"She says, 'I'm delighted to meet you all, Tamaki talks about you all so much in his e-mails to me that I feel like I know you already.'".

Remembering that they were Hosts, Honey jumped down off of Mori, and the Hittachi twins stepped forward together and bowed low to her, taking one of her hands in both of theirs and kissing it softly. She laughed and took Hikaru by the shoulders, surprising him a little bit. She went up onto her tip-toes and kissed him on each cheek once before releasing him and doing the same to his brother.

Jeanette stepped behind the twins and did the same to Haruhi, who stood stock still, not knowing what to do with the affectionate greeting. Jeanette's lips felt warm and tingly on her cheeks, even after she had moved on to Kyouya. He presented her with each of his cheeks to avoid being rude, and smiled at her a little bit afterwards.

Honey closed his eyes tightly as he smiled, and did the same. He was given an extra kiss on the top of his head and he laughed in delight. "She's so French!"

When she reached Mori, however, he hesitated and merely presented her with his hand. Tamaki's eyes grew wide, fearful that she would take the stoic Host's rejection with offense. But Jeanette only smiled at him and accepted his handshake warmly.

Haruhi noted all the pink hues that the boys' cheeks adorned after they had been kissed – even Kyouya had a vague pink tinge about him. Their eyes also lingered on her as she walked around.

'She's very charismatic,' Haruhi had to acknowledge. 'Maybe she doesn't even notice what she's doing to them. Looks quite tired, too.' Then, almost as though she had heard Haruhi's thoughts and was confirming them, Jeanette yawned widely, though she tried to cover it with her hand.

Tamaki said something to her then gestured to the door. Jeanette nodded agreeably, then crossed the room and left with a cheery, "Au revoir!" (another phrase that they all could understand). The pink door was quietly and carefully closed behind her, and then silence.

Tamaki put one hand in his pocket before turning to his friends and smiling. "So, what did you think of her?"


	3. Liar liar

"She's… well, she's…" Haruhi looked around her for help with her feeble attempt to put her first impression of Jeanette into words. Tamaki's face beamed at her expectantly, and she felt at a loss for words.

"She's fabulous!" Hikaru and Kaoru chanted together, stars twinkling in their eyes. Haruhi was (for once) grateful for their interruption, as it had saved her from further embarrassing herself. They clasped hands and went on. "She's got style, she's got class – It's like she was made for Ouran!"

"Jeanette is really nice; I really liked her!" Honey cheered, spinning Usa-chan around in a circle in his excitement.

"She certainly is charismatic," Kyouya allowed. "Perhaps her foreign charm can attract a different type of customer for the Hosts Club. Not that we'd be putting her to work or anything, but if she ever finds herself idle…"

'Always the businessman, eh Kyouya-senpai?' Haruhi thought dryly, but then turned her musings towards the French girl. 'Jeanette really is like Tamaki in a lot of ways, really. They look similar, they share a background, and they're both really quite charming, except I really think that she has a much smaller ego than he does. It's not that hard, really, but still…'

"Takashi, what did you think of her?" Honey-senpai asked his cousin, all innocence and curiosity. The tall, stoic senior was still looking at the door, but at Honey's voice, he blinked and faced him.

"Seemed nice," was all he said.

"Haruhi?" Tamaki said quietly, as though it were only them in the room. "How did you take to Jeanette?"

Haruhi was still cross with her boyfriend about how he lied to their faces, but sensed that now wasn't the time to chew him out, so decided to stick with the truth. For now, at least.

"I thought she was very charismatic," she admitted. "Really pretty, too, but I guess I can't really pass judgement on her until I get to know her better. It'll be hard, though, her not speaking Japanese and all."

"Hey, she's right, Boss," Hikaru said, something dawning on him. "Why would Jeanette choose to study abroad in a country where she doesn't speak the language?"

'I may actually kiss you, Hikaru,' Haruhi thought somewhat viciously: Tamaki had just drained of all colour at the obvious hole in his lie. But to her dismay, Haruhi saw a light bulb go off in his head.

"Why, that's the point!" Tamaki said, regaining his swagger and raising his index finger at them all, as though he were a teacher. "My dear friend Jeanette has come to Ouran to study her Japanese. Bless her, she's always been one to tackle a project head-on, throw herself in the deep end as it were. But that is not of import right now! I must escort my lovely Haruhi home, lest she feel even more neglected by me. Au revoir everyone!"

Laughing, Tamaki grabbed Haruhi's hand and danced out of the door, dragging her along behind him, deaf to her protests that she didn't have her bag or any of her stuff with her.

Haruhi let herself be dragged along until they were at a part of the school that was the closest to her locker then wrenched her arm free of Tamaki's death-grip. Silently, she began stalking down the corridor that would eventually lead to her locker.

"Haruhi? Where are -?"

"I'm going to my locker," Haruhi snapped, not looking over her shoulder at Tamaki's undoubtedly wounded expression. "Is that allowed of me?"

"… I suppose it is," Tamaki said, his voice slightly chilly.

After a long beat or two, Haruhi heard the sound of expensive shoes following her, as she knew she would. She turned a corner to her locker and angrily began twiddling the lock's dial around. The shoes sounded a bit longer until they too stopped, just behind Haruhi, but she did her best to ignore Tamaki's presence as she aggressively stuffed some books in her bag.

A bit too aggressively.

"Ah!" Haruhi gasped angrily as one of her folders topped down and exploded its contents all over the ground around her. "Damn it," she muttered, before kneeling down to gather the loose paper.

Quietly, Tamaki squatted down to help, but Haruhi swatted his hand away. "It's okay; I can do it myself, senpai."

"Haruhi…" Tamaki said quietly, seriously. He tried to move into her line of vision, but she childishly turned her head away from him. "Haruhi, why are you so angry with me?"

"I tend to get a bit angry when people lie to my face, and my friends' faces, you know," Haruhi snapped, still collecting papers.

Tamaki gave off a soft, "Oh," before backing off. The two stayed in silence as Haruhi stuffed the paper back in the folder, then crammed the folder into her bag. The silence grew and grew, and when Haruhi shut her locker, it was like a gun going off.

"I'll see you around," Haruhi muttered, hoisting her bag over her shoulder and walking down the corridor. She really hated being angry with Tamaki, and she felt kind of bad leaving him watching after her, but then she thought about him lying straight to her face and felt angry all over again.

Silently she smouldered away, all the way to the front gates of Ouran, before the pattering of running feet caught her attention. She looked around and found Tamaki running full pelt towards her. His cheeks were flushed, and he was breathing hard, but he didn't stop running until he was directly in front of her. In spite of herself, Haruhi was concerned and confused. "What's wrong, senpai?"

"Haruhi," Tamaki panted, gripping each of her arms in his warm hands. "I'm sorry for lying to you and the Host Club. I hated every fib that slipped out of my mouth, but… but…" He had Haruhi's full attention now, and she was watching him carefully. "I can't tell you why I had to lie right now, but I need you to trust me when I say that I have good reason to. Can you do that, Haruhi? Can you trust me?"

Haruhi looked at him steadily, trying to find any signs of further dishonesty on his face, but his big blue eyes were filled with only honesty. She got the feeling that he really did hate lying to his friends, but would keep doing it for as long as he had to.

'Tamaki's never lied to us before,' Haruhi thought. 'Not big lies or ones that fooled us for even a second, anyway. And I think that he really believes that he has to do it now. I guess I have no choice but to trust him. He has a good heart.'

"Yes, senpai," she said at last, feeling her anger drain away and her face soften in response. "I can trust you."

Tamaki's entire body relaxed and he sagged with relief. He released his hold on Haruhi's arms, but pulled her into a hug and planted a swift kiss on the top of her head. "Thank you, Haruhi."

'If I had said no, he would have been crushed,' the still-slightly-bewildered girl realised. 'And not his usual, melodramatic crushed either. It's funny how… good making Tamaki happy feels.'

"It's no problem, Tamaki," Haruhi smiled, her cheeks flushing a little from the kiss. "But I have to go now if I'm going to make the next bus in time."

"Haruhi, I give you my word as a gentleman that I will tell you the truth as soon as I am able," Tamaki said seriously. "Just… don't tell the others, alright? It might cause gaping wounds that only deep therapy can heal."

Haruhi tactfully decided not to comment on his delusions, and instead settled for patting his arm, smiling and saying, "Don't worry about it, senpai – Your secret's safe with me."

A strange, twisted expression settled on Tamaki's face and he walked away robotically, muttering over and over to himself, "So cute… So cute…"

Haruhi watched her boyfriend stagger back into the school; shook her head and muttered one word under her breath.

"Idiot."

"Dad? Are you home?" Haruhi called out as she walked in the door to her home.

"Yes, Haruhi! Daddy's home today!" Ranka sang out from the living area. Haruhi carefully put her bag down and removed her blazer, knowing perfectly well that once she entered a two metre radius of her excitable father, she would be smothered in hugs. She had ironed her blazer the day before and didn't want it wrinkled.

Sure enough, her father sprang up from his position on the couch and gave his daughter a big, sweeping hug. Haruhi allowed her father twenty seconds of hugging before gently disengaging herself from his clutches.

"So darling, did you have a good day at school today?" Ranka asked, getting over his short pouting spell over the completion of the hug.

"I don't know about good, but I certainly had an interesting day today," Haruhi said. She was in their kitchenette now, preparing some tea for her and her father.

"Oh really? What was so interesting, my love?"

"Tamaki -" Haruhi began, ignoring her father's small hiss of disapproval "Tamaki brought in a friend of his all the way from France. Well, I guess that they kind of came here, and then Tamaki brought her in. Anyway, her name is Jeanette and she's pretty good-looking, but she doesn't speak Japanese, apparently."

"'She', did you say?" Ranka said suddenly, popping out of nowhere, making Haruhi jump out of her skin. "Oh Haruhi, she could make a nice girlfriend for you! You could go shopping together, do each others hair (well you could do hers at any rate), and you could spend less time around all those boys, maybe!" Ranka enthused, clapping his hands together in excitement.

Haruhi had a sneaking suspicion that by 'all those boys', her father just meant Tamaki. "Maybe, but she doesn't speak Japanese."

"Maybe? Oh Haruhi, I'm sure you'll get along famously!" Ranks gushed, hearing only the word that gave him hope of his precious daughter having a female friend and ignoring the rest that made a very obvious flaw in his fantasy. "Jeanette is such a pretty name, don't you think?"

"Yes dad," Haruhi answered automatically. She had learned a long time ago that when her father started rambling like this, it was better to just agree with him whenever he paused to take a breath or ask a rhetorical question.

"Who knows, maybe having a female friend around would inspire you to dress cuter! The French are suppose to be very fashion conscious, you know. "

"Yes dad."

"Oh, but I do like most of the boys in your Host Club. If you become friends with this French girl, promise me that you'll still keep friendly with those delightful twins Misuzu raved about, won't you dear?"

"Yes dad."

"Oh, and don't forget about that adorable Loli-shōta friend of yours. Honey, was it? His cousin was also quite handsome, wasn't he? Oh! How could I forget about Kyouya?! He's the best of them all! Why, without his weekly phone calls and e-mail updates on you, I would be left in the dark about what goes on at that school! Why don't you talk to me about anything anymore, Haruhi?"

"Yes dad."

"…"

Haruhi knew from the silence behind her that she had been found out, and that her dad was about three seconds away from crying that his darling daughter didn't listen to him anymore and how that meant that she was sure to hate him. To stop the waterworks before they started, Haruhi quickly finished putting all the cups on the tray along with the teapot she had bought last week (they were having a special at the market on kitchenware) and turned around with a big smile, pretending not to notice her father's big, staring eyes so much like Tamaki's. "The tea's ready, daddy!" she chirped brightly, hoping against hope that he wouldn't make a big production out of her not listening to him.

"Oh Haruhi, you're such a good girl to your father!" Ranka cheered, already forgetting his hurt feelings. Breathing a sigh of relief and thanking her dear mother up in Heaven, Haruhi set down the tray on the table and poured out some tea for them both. Her father began wittering away about his day off from work and how he saw a cute dress that would be perfect for his beloved daughter if he knew that there was any chance that she would wear it.

The night was uneventful and after a dinner of stir-fried noodles with vegetables and beef, Haruhi wished her father goodnight and went to bed.


	4. First day

"Do you have your keys?" Haruhi asked her dad in the morning. She was calmly eating some cereal while her dad was in mid-morning panic. Same old, same old.

"Yes, yes!" Her dad sang, as he snatched them from on top of the counter.

"Do you have your wallet?"

"Umm…"

"It was in your jeans pocket yesterday. I checked before I put them in the wash, and I think I put it on your bedside table," Haruhi said, putting her bowl in the sink and giving it a quick rinse as her father bounced from room to room trying to find his things.

She was just shrugging on her backpack and opening their door as her father announced happily, "I found it! Haruhi? Where're you going?!"

Haruhi gave her father a weird look. "To school. That's where I usually go on Wednesdays, you know."

She turned her back on her father's wide, sad puppy dog eyes and headed out the door. "Bye dad. I love you!" She made sure to tack on the last part because she knew that it would make him extra cheerful for the rest of the day. This was their morning ritual, and Haruhi wouldn't have it any other way.

"Haruhi!" Kaouru and Hikaru sang in unison as she walked into her 1A homeroom. "Good news! Jeanette-chan is going to hang around with Hikaru today."

"Huh? How come?" Haruhi asked, sitting down in her seat. The twins sat on her desk and continued the conversation, utterly at ease with their invasion of her personal space.

"The King said this morning at the Host Club meeting that he wanted her to spend time with each of us individually." Kaouru said casually.

"Huh?! What morning meeting?!"

"The morning meeting we have every Wednesday," Hikaru said casually, inspecting his immaculate nails. "Oh, and Kyouya-san says that for every Wednesday that you miss, he'll add a five hundred yen to your debt."

"But-But no-one ever told me about them!" Haruhi exclaimed, devastated. "I had no idea they even existed!" The twins shrugged their shoulders simultaneously and Haruhi let her head drop onto the table. It made a loud thump and it hurt a little, but Haruhi was too consumed with the thought of how much had been added to her debt without her knowing.

"Hikaru?" Kaouru asked quietly, small tears forming in the corner of his eyes as he looked deeply into his brother's eyes. "Do you think that you'll like Jeanette-chan more than you like me?"

"That's impossible, Kaouru," Hikaru declared huskily, taking Kaouru's face in his hands and moving in close. "I can never like anyone as much as I like you."

"But she's beautiful, exotic and a girl," Kaouru protested quietly. He turned his head away, but before he could do much else, Hikaru swept him up in his arms and held him to his chest in an emotional embrace.

'You've got to be kidding me,' Haruhi thought dryly. Kaouru's whispered "Hikaru…" was almost drowned out in the squeals of pure delight from the crowd of girls that had appeared out of nowhere. 'Do these guys ever let up?'

"1A, foreign student Jeanette Duboir will be joining Hikaru Hitachiin for the day," Kazukiyo, the class president announced to the class. Only a few were listening at first, but when the European beauty Haruhi had met just the day before entered the classroom, everyone fell silent but then exploded into excited chattering.

Jeanette stood shyly at the front of the room with her hands clasped behind her back and a light blush on her cheeks from all the attention. She was wearing undoubtedly expensive fashionable jeans, some plain black shoes and a grey, V-neck shirt that reached down to her mid-thighs. Her soft, blonde curls were loose and she wore an orange Alice band that had a long string attached to one side that ended with a bright turquoise feather. It was a very casual outfit, but it only made her seem prettier.

Her big blue eyes swept the classroom, and when they settled on Haruhi and the twins, she broke into a little relieved smile and began walking towards them.

'She must be pretty nervous about being here,' Haruhi thought. 'Some strange school in a foreign country where everyone stares at you: sounds rough. I hope Hikaru treats her nicely and doesn't take advantage of her cluelessness.'

"It must be terrible, not being able to speak Japanese while you're in Japan," Renge said sympathetically, popping out of nowhere and making Haruhi slip sideways out of her chair in surprise. "But maybe she'll meet a stranger who teaches her things without saying a word. She can love a lifetime's worth without ever exchanging a single word then leave the country with only the things he taught and a picture of his face held in the pocket of her coat that's closest to her heart. Oh, so romantic!"

"How do you come up with these things?" Haruhi asked flatly, refusing to be swept up in Renge's crazy fantasies.

"It's called being a dreamer, Haruhi," Renge retorted before disappearing again.

"Hello Hikaru," Jeanette said in Japanese, grinning shyly. "I'm looking forward to our day together. What class do you have first?"

… What?!

The three bamboozled Hosts stared at the confused French girl silently. She was speaking Japanese! She was speaking Japanese after Tamaki had assured them that she didn't know a word of the language. Curiouser and curiouser.

'This is what Tamaki was lying about?' Haruhi wondered. 'It makes no sense: wouldn't it be better if he had just told us in the first place?'

The Hitachiin brothers exchanged long, sideways glances. They seemed to be having a non-verbal conversation, which ended with a nod after a few moments. Then they both blinded her (along with half of the room) with two thousand-watt smiles.

"Jeanette, my dear, you are in for a treat," Kaouru enthused. He unfolded his long legs from the table and slipped beside her, resting his arm on her shoulder. "You get to have the pleasure – no, the privilege! – of tailing my darling brother and myself around for the day!"

"Um, but I thought that Tamaki said that I was only spending the day with… uh, Hikaru?" Jeanette said haltingly as she looked from brother to brother.

The two evil brothers put their heads together in front of her and beamed simultaneously, "We have all the same classes!"

"Oh," Jeanette blinked, somewhat blinded and confused. "Uh, alright."

"We have maths first, then conversational French after first lunch, English after that, then we finish off the day with cooking and the Host Club," Kaouru said, ticking them off on his fingers. "Of course, French should be no problem at all for you, Jeanette."

"No, I guess it won't be," Jeanette laughed, smiling. Blushes erupted like fireworks onto the cheeks of every boy in the room, which at that point was saying a lot: they must have been taking lessons from the Host Club fangirls, because there were a lot more boys than Haruhi remembered being in her class suddenly crowding at the fringe of their conversation.

'After all this time at the Host Club, you'd think that I'd be getting used to it by now,' Haruhi thought dryly, as it was the tone for most of her thoughts.

"Man she's cute!"

"I wonder if she'll be joining the Host Club?"

"Aw, Hikaru and Kaouru are so lucky!"

The twins suddenly turned to the wide circle of admirers and began hissing vile things at them, causing them to scatter in every direction. Jeanette sidestepped over to Haruhi, bent down sideways so that her face was next to hers and whispered out of the corner of her mouth, "What just happened?"

"I'll let you know when I do," Haruhi said dryly. She felt a little bad for the exchange student again, so made an effort to sound more friendly. "So Jeanette, uh, how are you liking Japan so far?"

"Oh, well I've only been here for a few days, so I haven't really had a chance to look around a lot, but I quite like the cherry blossom trees. The few people that I've met have been… interesting. Interesting, but perfectly nice." She smiled, and Haruhi found her face relaxing into one as well.

"So what are you planning to study while you're here?"

"Study?" Jeanette repeated with confusion lacing her dulcet tones.

"Yeah. Tamaki said that you were coming over here from France to study abroad." Another lie, perhaps?

"Oh, yes! Study… Well I plan to study medicine, and I thought to myself, 'Hey! Why not see a bit more of the world while I'm at it?' I hadn't seen Tamaki in many years, even though we've stayed in touch, and he offered to let me board with him here in Japan. He offers me the same thing every three months, like clockwork." At this, Jeanette smiled softly, momentarily becoming lost in a private little world before coming back to reality. "So now I'm here, and I'm just so excited to see everything Japan has to offer." Jeanette suddenly looked slyly to Haruhi and added with a grin, "Including you, mademoiselle."

"Me?" Haruhi said, startled.

Jeanette nodded happily, her blonde curls bouncing up and down hypnotically. "Indeed: Tamaki never stops talking about you in his e-mails and calls to me. He is so proud to have someone as special as you in his life, you know. Every day is, 'Haruhi aced another test today,', or 'My Haruhi wore such a cute dress today!', or something of the sort. I don't think that I've ever seen someone so smitten."

Haruhi didn't reply, and instead looked away from the French girl's sparkling gaze to a spot on the floor. She could feel the red heat rise up into her cheeks, and tried to ignore it as best as she could. But there was, of course, a part of her that rather liked the idea of Tamaki bragging about her to his friends (not that she'd ever admit to something so embarrassing). Then something struck her cold, sucking the warmth from her face in a heartbeat. "Did-Did you call me mademoiselle?"

"Oh don't worry, love," Jeanette said, leaning over and winking at her like they were co-conspirers "Your secret's safe with me." Then she closed her eyes and smiled at Haruhi, nudging her shoulder with her own.

'Huh. Maybe dad was right,' Haruhi thought to herself, half grinning "maybe she would make a good girlfriend for me. Wait: did I seriously just say "girlfriend"? Ugh, dad's rubbing off on me.'


End file.
